Born in 1887 at Glendale, Truckee Meadows, Silas Earl Ross was the son of a pioneer rancher and farmer. Following his public schooling at Glendale and Reno, Mr. Ross entered the University of Nevada, where he received his degree in mining...

Cora Gage Sayre, a Smith Valley native, was born in 1897. She received her education in the West: in the one-room Smith Valley School; Hamilton School on Geary Street in San Francisco; Carson City; and at Berkeley High School. On Nevada deserts and...

In popular myth, anyone can make it to the top in America, no matter how humble his or her origins. That may be true, but few have faced greater challenges along the way than did Rollan Melton. Sonny, as he was called when he was young, was born...

Vincent P. Gianella was born at Marysville, California, on February 9, 1886 to parents of Italian and Irish descent, and he spent his boyhood on ranches in that vicinity. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree at Oregon State College in 1910, a...

Roy A. Hardy was born in South Dakota in 1886. Having been raised in mining camps, he went to Tonopah and Goldfield in 1905 during their boom days. There, he knew or met many of the leading figures of the day: Jim Butler, Harry Stimler, Tex...

This is the story of Silver Peak, a small mining community in Esmeralda County, Nevada. As with many towns tied to mining, it has suffered the booms and busts that are inherent in the industry, but the difference with Silver Peak is that it has...

Following the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1869, miners and speculators rushed into the previously unsettled area, and three new towns quickly sprang up: Gold Hill, Silver City, and Virginia City. Virginia City was formed around the numerous...

Lawrence W. Little was born in Colorado in 1900. He attended public schools and college in Colorado, and came to Nevada in 1924 to be a teacher at Carson High School. After several years as an instructor in mathematics and science, Mr. Little...

Ert Moore was born in Indiana in 1902 and spent his early life there. He recounts his early school years and the requirements for graduation. Early in life he decided that teaching would be his career goal. After getting the minimum requirements...

Eugenia May Bruns enjoys the distinction of having lived in three Nevada towns that no longer exist. She spent the early years of her life in Empire, a milling town on the Carson River, where she was born in 1877 and attended school. After...

For almost 150 years life in California's Sierra Valley has been substantially tied to family ranching enterprises, and to exploitation of the forests that rim the valley. When change occurred, it was generally evolutionary and driven by...

Robert (Bob) L. McDonald, a native of Reno, Nevada, was born on South Virginia Street in 1920. His mother, Leola Lewis McDonald, and father, Joseph F. McDonald, Sr., were involved in the newspaper business. Leola McDonald wrote the society page,...

Thomas Cave Wilson was born in Arizona in 1907. His family moved to Nevada when his father, Frederick Weston Wilson, was offered a position on the University of Nevada faculty. Thomas Wilson's mother, Claire Cave, was a novelist and writer. Thomas...

Meadows along the western edge of the Great Basin have been grazed by cattle ever since the first emigrant wagons pushed through in the 1840s. By 1850 permanent ranching operations existed, and today more than 80 percent of all agricultural land in...

Andrew D. Crofut is a Nevadan in the true sense. What does this mean? Crofut was born in 1889 and grew up on a ranch in Diamond Valley at the juncture of Eureka and Elko counties. The ranch provides the focus for a major portion of this memoir. The...